Page 65 of Driftwood Daffodil 3

“That picture is too blurry to make anything out.”

It wasn’t blurry at all. In fact it was the most crystal clear picture I’d ever seen. I could even see the safety pin on my skirt.

“I expect you to act out. Veda was a fucking nightmare at your age. But this…” he jabbed his finger down on the picture. “This is the brother of the man who raped our sister!”

“That doesn’t mean he’s a bad person.” Wait… did I just defend Gio? Ugh, I was going to have to wash my mouth out when I got home.

Kato hung his head, pinched the bridge of his nose, sucked in a breath and sighed, “all the Mancini’s are bad people, you think I can’t see that bruise on your face under all that make-up?” The fire burning in his blue eyes had turned into an inferno when he looked back up at me. “I’ll fucking kill him for that.”

“That wasn’t Gio.”

“Don’t lie to me Nova, I can see how aggressive he is in this picture.”

Okay, so Gio did seem handsy, and kind of feral, maybe a little angry, but I wasn’t lying.

“Enough with the picture. It’s not what you think.” I panicked and blurted out, “I lost a bet.”

“You lost a bet?”

“Yeah.” It seemed plausible so I went with it.

“A bet to kiss Gio Mancini?”

“Yes.”

“Alright,” Kato said. “So, why did you get in the car with him after?”

How much did Snake tell him? Did the creep sit back and watch the whole thing? Did he take pictures of it? Oh God, did he send them to my brother?

“That depends,” I did my best not to look suspicious. “Do you have pictures of that so-called incident?”

“If I did, what would I see?”

That was a no. There were some things that scarred you for life. If Kato had seen what Gio and I did in his Range Rover that morning, he would still be throwing up. I walked in on Kato making out with one of his girlfriend’s three years ago and still wanted to scrub my eyes clean.

“You would see nothing, because that’s what happened. It was stupid bet.”

Kato didn’t give me so much as a twitch in response, which only made me more nervous. And when I was nervous, I talked.

“You can’t get mad at me for losing a bet.”

Kato continued to stare.

“It wasn’t like I chose the guy.”

He smacked his lips together.

“We go to the same school you know.”

Kato sucked in a breath through his nose and re crossed his arms.

“As if I would ever want to kiss Gio Mancini. Ugh.” My lip curled. “Eww. Atlee has way softer lips.”

I stopped cold as Kato tipped his head.

“Atlee? As in Atlee Fiore?”

Damn my mouth.

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